Former Astro Jason Lane, Minute Maid Park to get Hollywood treatment

Astros fans might not have the best memories of Jason Lane, that is unless you count his making a routine catch to end the 2005 National League Championship Series in Game 6 and sending the franchise to its first, and only, World Series. He was, after all, smiling like a giddy grade-schooler, just as many Houstonians probably were, considering the excruciatingly painful ending to Game 5.

Director and native Houstonian Richard Linklater, right, followed actors Patricia Arquette, left, and Ethan Hawke for 12 years in filming Boyhood, which opens Friday, July 11, 2014. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

Instead, Astros fans might remember him for never quite living up to the expectations that came with tearing up the minor leagues between being a sixth-round pick out of USC in 1999 and debuting in the major leagues less than three years later. His best season with the Astros coincided with that 2005 run to the Fall Classic, when he hit .267 with career highs in home runs (26), RBIs (78), runs (65) and doubles (34) as the team’s everyday right fielder. Serviceable? Yes. Remarkable? Hardly.

Well, get ready to take a trip down memory lane, no pun intended.

Lane, or more specifically one of his last home runs with the Astros, can be seen in the upcoming film Boyhood from director and native Houstonian Richard Linklater of Dazed and Confused fame.

The movie, which Linklater began filming in 2002 with the intention of chronicling a fictional family for 12 years, features divorced parents played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, and their children, Lorelei Linklater (the director’s real-life daughter) and Ellar Coltrane.

In one scene, Hawke’s character takes his son, Coltrane’s character, to an Astros game at Minute Maid Park, with the elder Linklater banking on just getting some usable footage and hoping something special would happen.

“I’m pointing my camera for one inning, and the Astros are one of the worst offensive teams in baseball at this time. I’m pointing my camera down the third base line, basically the point of view of my people. I’m just saying, well, let’s just hope something happens. I need something! And then Jason Lane, who’s my favorite player of all time now, hits a home run. It’s not out of the frame, it’s not to center or right. It’s right down the line, in the shot. You know, it wasn’t planned, but it just happened.”

“It was unbelievable good fortune. We were stealing these shots, grabbing footage. And the camera happened to not only catch the hit, but follow it and focus on the home run. The whole stadium exploded.”